The other ballerina who got promoted just a few days ago to the top Company's rank is Sadaise Arencibia. Miss Arencibia's story is an interesting one. I had the opportunity to see her dancing ever since she got first accepted in the Company's Corps, and back then she stood out for her beautiful line, hyperextended limbs and ethereal figure. She is a tall dancer, and always projected a very delicate aura. Time passed by and then she didn't seem to progress that much, staying behind for a while while other dancers got promoted. But now, as I've seen for a little while, she got back on track, and has worked hard to be in her current position. She definitely needs to work a little more in some roles. Another thing is that she is sort of an unexpected dancer..you know...that type which you never know what kind of night she will put on, which I guess adds to her allure to a certain extent. Anyway, here she is...just freshly promoted to Primera Bailarina. CONGRATULATIONS, SADAISE!!!

I don't know why Arencibia doesn't get more international attention, at least over Valdes IMHO. I saw her Odette in June at Segerstrom in OC, and she defintely was the highlight for me. No she doesn't have in-your-face projection Valdes has, but I think her particular kind of lyricism combined with old skool technique is more appealing.

Miss Arencibia is one of the Cuban examples of the current trend affecting the ballet world today. Tall, elegant, lyric, long limbed, thin ballerina who seems to be always trying to look for the perfect placement and posture, but lacking in old school force and solid technique, which is the complete opposite case with Valdes.

Miss Arencibia is one of the Cuban examples of the current trend affecting the ballet world today. Tall, elegant, lyric, long limbed, thin ballerina who seems to be always trying to look for the perfect placement and posture, but lacking in old school force and solid technique, which is the complete opposite case with Valdes.

One of Arencibia's faults IMO, is the tendency to pose as a way to accent the music, instead of actually moving to it in order to convey emotion. So in that sense I can sort of agree with you on "trying to look for perfect placement...". But even then, she still has the sort of old skool quality that I admire in Cuban dancers, say what you will about her look or build. The Cuban quality of actual dancing and clean technique that they and POB dancers have, over the floridly affected manner of dancing that many Mariinsky ballerinas adopt at the expense of technique especially footwork or petit allegro. Arencibia does look different in physique from other BNC ballerinas, so I don't know if that has any influence on how she uses her Cuban schooling to accentuate it.